CHARLOTTE — There's no point in calling it anything other than what they've already called it.
Words like "frustrated" and "disappointed" have come up a lot in the wake of a 26-10 loss to Jacksonville in the opener, and that makes sense, because that game was frustrating and disappointing.
It was also one of 17.
When it gets like that, the only thing to do is put your head down and grind through it.
Dave Canales walked by early Wednesday morning, smile on his face and a fist-pump and a "Work Wednesday!" It's how he's wired.
Fortunately, the Panthers have a few grinders to go with him, the kind of guys who lead by example in difficult situations.
Whether it's Chuba Hubbard continuing to push late (and coming up with the game's lone touchdown), or Jaycee Horn's first pick of the year, or Derrick Brown admitting after the game that the time was done for talking, the guys at the top of the food chain are doing the only thing that can be done.
Continuing.
So after the time for venting is over, the only thing left to do is get back to work.
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I'd love to blame today's poor play and resulting loss on the weather delay. But we were already in the process of getting our backsides handed to us before that unfortunate occurrence, well, occurred. Bryce Young didn't take care of the ball all day. Hunter Renfrow made us really miss Adam Thielen. Canales' play calling was unimaginative and uninspiring, although I doubt the offense could've pulled off anything more challenging if given the chance. And the defense was, well, indefensible.
Bright spots? Tetairoa McMillan showed a few flashes, and Chuba showed "that Cat can still ball", especially with that TD run at about 4:47 left to play. I'm just glad this one's in the books. Look out Cardinals next week (eye roll). What's it gonna take, DG? Why does this year's team appear dead set on being so disappointing so early? — Jeff, Concord, NC
Jeff is a man of letters. He is both smart and wise. That's why he put the most important two words of his question right in front of the question mark.
The "so early" part.
Listen, that was a bad one. No one's calling it anything other than that. But it was one. And there are 16 more coming behind it.
As Canales described his reaction to the film as "disappointed and encouraged," the natural reaction to the game was the first part; the team's reaction in Monday's meeting inspired the second half of that description.
None of these guys has to be told that Sunday was not good enough. They lived it. They know.
I'll be interested to see how they respond on Sunday. My suspicion is it will be better, and not just because the Cardinals are a team they've traditionally fared well against. The Panthers are 13-5 all-time against Arizona in the regular season, and 6-2 in Arizona. Even when the quarterbacks were Panthers legend Vinny Testaverde and Cards legend Tim Rattay, they managed to have success against Arizona.
None of that will help them on the field if they don't play better this week, however. And they know that.
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Young needs to go. I have been a fan since they were given a franchise. Last week's game, they had two downs and a yard to go. Young rolled to the left and threw a 5-yard interception with no pressure. Time to move on, enough is enough. Having a good game now and then just doesn't make it. I could go on, but I'm sure everyone feels the same way. — John, Largo, FL
I'm not sure everyone does.
Most people who behave rationally tend not to overreact to 5.9 percent of anything.
Obviously, Young needs to play better, and he's the first one to acknowledge that. But we've also seen him play in a manner unlike that recently, so it's reasonable to think he might get back to that pattern.
But it's emotional overreaction season, so this is the mail.
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Hey Darin, thanks for always keeping us in the loop with all that is Panthers! My question to you is, after going to the game in Jacksonville this weekend, I still feel like there is a disconnect between Canales' play calls getting into Bryce in a timely manner. I watch a lot of football, and we're consistently the only team I see snapping the ball with less than half a second left on the play clock. Bryce is supposedly off the charts with processing things before the snap. So if that is the case, why can't the calls be sent in a timely manner so he can adjust at the line like typical offenses? It really seems to hurt the offense's rhythm. Any insight from your end? — Judd, Bluffton, SC
You know who agrees? Canales.
"That's something that we want to get better at, so we'll be attacking that this week," he said Monday.
The Panthers let too many play clocks get too close to their expiration for anyone's comfort, and that's a focus this week.
When the coach walks out the day after the game and says it out loud, you expect it to change.
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Hey Darin, trying real hard these last few days to follow my own advice and not overreact and jump into the deep end of doom, gloom, and mushroom plumes. A lot of the wind got blown out of Panthers Nation's metaphorical sails, true, but TMac was a silver lining for sure, Chuba is still Chuba, and DB was drawing double blocks most of the game.
I'll admit I was more than a little surprised by Coach Canales saying he's pushing for the younger guys to play more on defense. Not because I don't think they're ready, but because I thought as the head coach that it would happen. Are we all reading too much into that sound bite, or is that something that we should all be following a little more closely as the year goes on? Thanks again for your service to us, the fans, and us, the voters of Mecklenburg! — Nate, Charlotte, NC
All you can do is breathe and work.
McMillan was good, and Hubbard was again as advertised. But yeah.
I think a season is a long time, and things will develop over the next couple of months. I would anticipate a lot of the younger guys on defense — particularly Nic Scourton, Princely Umanmielen, and Lathan Ransom — to see more and more of the field as the year goes on. But they have to practice and meet every day in a way that warrants it, as well.
Being a team that drafts and develops is the thing Dan Morgan says they want to do, so I expect them to. And when you're carrying 12 rookies (nearly a quarter of the roster), that's what should be expected.
Also, you're welcome. Today's Mailbag is coming a little later than usual since I spent Tuesday working the polls in Charlotte's municipal elections. It's a long day but a good day, 15 hours on your feet working a process. If you ever have questions about how things work, the best way to find out is to get in the middle of them. Learning about how elections — and communities — function is a lot like the work of a football team. You go through a specific and well-planned process, and you execute it over and over. And you do it as a team. That's the only way to get the results you want.
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I don't have a question, but I mostly wanted to offer some perspective through my own experience. When I was a soldier in Iraq, I learned you can't always keep the nation's attention. The headlines move on. Back home, opinions were many, but the sentiment was generally apathetic. The only thing we could count on was the mission at hand, because life was going on without you just fine back home.
Every patrol, we had a chance to show the enemy who we were. It was a chance to finish the day on top, and when you have 365 days to go, that's critical. Football's the same way. Fans may doubt you, critics may write you off, but every game is a chance to prove yourself to the opponent. Make them remember they were in a fight. The opponent is all that matters, and it's the only way to judge yourself. Stack those small victories, and the big ones will come. True resilience isn't measured by the depth of struggle but rather the heights of the comeback.
I was hoping you could pass this along to the team for me. Let them know there's a fan that understands. — Brent, Lewisville, NC
What he said.
The only thing to do is the next thing.
For the perspective, we'll just go ahead and name Brent this week's Friend Of The Mailbag and get the appropriate honorarium on the way to him.
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As someone who's actually played football, can we dispense with the doom-glooming permeating social media for a bit? Especially the sites that include the word "CAT" in their social feed? What I saw today was a vastly better team, with real stars in the making. Football, unless you're ever on either side that's absolutely getting killed or doing the killing, always breaks down to about 5-10 plays max. Things like two bounced passes off your receiver's hands that get intercepted, losing the football after a long scramble, center to QB snaps that are wildly inconsistent, running the play clock to the last possible minute, not keeping your feet in bounds to catch a beautiful sideline pass, and just generally shooting yourself in the foot. If you're going to be great, it's not just the talent, but the discipline and the work. I think we have the potential to have all three. The question is, and feel free to share with the team, "Do you dare to be great?" — Jimmy, Wilmington, NC
If I've learned anything in this business, it's that hysteria sells a lot better than calm and reasoned analysis.
If you spent six months thinking a certain way, one event shouldn't change the way you think. If it keeps happening, of course, you adjust your expectations. But this was a young team trying to build in August, and it remains one in September.
And Jimmy is wise; it's not enough to just gloss over the problems, but to drill into specific examples of things to fix. That's what they do every Monday, and they continue with the work.
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I have remained silent since Game 1 last year. We started the season very short at safety, CB, MLB, and backup OT. We sit on $32 million of cap space. This is a management issue. We came out flat, and that is a coaching issue. Our QB may be one game away from his last start. I believe the next two or three weeks may be the most critical in the last eight years. I hope it quickly gets turned around; failure to do so will be hard to watch. I am going back to silence and let you do the wonderful job you do. I need a dose of hope at this stage. I started the day with it yesterday. — Stephen, Columbia, SC
"Football is only fun when you win," is one of the great clichés in the sport.
And I guess the converse becomes true. When a team loses a game like that one, it makes everything seem disastrous.
It's early in the season to declare everything a systemic failure. Maybe we should let it breathe.
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Darin, just one question: WHAT HAPPENED? Another disappointing season start for us faithful Panthers fans. Another offseason of "we have improved on the offense, we have improved on the defense, we have drafted good in the draft, and brought in top veterans in free agency. And then in the first regular season game, the team just didn't come to play and win, they really looked terrible, and it was a huge disappointment. It was really hard to sit and watch this game. WHAT HAPPENED? Of course it was what it was, so, Go Panthers, Start Pounding. — Kenneth, Stuttgart, Germany
Yeah, it wasn't the loss itself as much as the flipped expectations that have people feeling disoriented.
Most people went into the season imagining continued offensive progress and hoping for just enough improvement on defense to make it matter more.
That didn't manifest itself on Sunday.
So let's see what the week ahead brings, and see if patterns emerge, because one of anything can never be a pattern.
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I watched Hard Knocks this season, and as Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott appeared on the screen, I couldn't help but feel a little emotional, a single tear slid down my cheek as I thought about how that should be us. Those two great football minds, with the vision and leadership they bring, should be guiding our team and shaping our future. It's tough to watch them succeed elsewhere, knowing what they could have meant for us. And yes, I realize Joe Brady is also with the Bills now, but I can't help but wonder how much of his success is tied to having arguably the best quarterback in the league driving that train. It just leaves you thinking about what might have been, and that's not an easy thought to shake.
Since the name of this column is "Ask the Old Guy," I'll go ahead and present my question: Am I the only one who thinks JJ Jansen deserves a spot in the Ring of Honor when he finally hangs up the cleats, especially considering he'll likely have been with the team for around thirty years by the time he retires? — Jensen, Chattanooga, TN
Sean and Brandon are good at their jobs, but that's the circle of life in the NFL. If you create a successful program, good people leave for bigger opportunities. That's how it goes. And yes, they are good human beings, in addition to being quality football guys.
Also, if you hang around the NFL long enough, you realize how interconnected the business is, so everyone has ties to everyone else at some level. Joe Brady wasn't here very long, but he was here long enough to "borrow" one of my pens and never give it back. I'll never forgive him. (That's a joke, Joe is also good people.)
As for your question, it's built on the assumption that Jansen is ever going to retire.
He's young and vibrant for a 39-year-old, which is a thing you can only say if you are on the other side of your own 30s. I think if he ever went in the Ring of Honor, you'd have to put him in alongside John Kasay, his old mentor. Between them, they've been a part of every Panthers season ever, and lead the team in points scored and games played.
They're also true examples of the way you have to work — daily. John and JJ are big believers in routines and habits, which you build by doing the right thing the same way every day. That's why they're so consistently successful.
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I learned about John Locke last week and how he thought it was a good idea to trade some freedoms for protection of property, which got me thinking about trading for offensive linemen during class. Apparently, few know who Robert Hunt is. Disappointing.
Speaking of the offensive line, any idea of what happened with Austin Corbett on Sunday? He seemed to have an off game — I would assume he still will be playing ahead of Cade Mays this Sunday, correct?
Also, have you touched a cactus before in Arizona, and will you this weekend just for fun? It seems like one of those bucket list items. — Zach, Charlotte
John Locke was a pretty good GM, even though he got a lot of criticism at the time for how he used second-round picks. But time has proven him to be reasonably wise, which happens when you hit on most of your first-rounders.
We'll find out when they take the practice field if any lineup changes happen, but I'd be surprised if one week caused them to change their minds on an offseason-long evaluation. Here's what I know about Corbett and Young's difficulty on exchanges last week — it's complicated. When teams are adjusting at the line of scrimmage and going to silent counts, it requires everyone to be on the same page. They weren't, obviously.
When my kids were small, they'd ask for me to bring them something home from road trips. So in 2007, my daughter wanted a cactus. Found one in a coffee cup in the airport gift shop, and the things are surprisingly resilient. Lived for probably 12 or 14 years, and did provide a couple of life lessons along the way.
Speaking of touching the cactus, Zach is out here dropping Wile E. Coyote-style anvils on my counterpart Darren Urban's Mailbag in Arizona this week. Darren spells his name wrong and insists on calling Arizona State ASU even though everyone knows that's in Boone, but he's tall and handsome and has terrific skin, which I attribute to clean living in the desert. He's also a dear friend.
He also didn't realize that letting Zach into the Mailbag was going to be a thing. But we like him here, even though it's clearly time to GET BACK TO CLASS, ZACH.
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And on that note, let's go lightning round, brought to you by the patron saint of the lightning round Jeff from Fuquay-Varina, to close it out this week.
That was just pathetic. No question today. — Jake, Candler, NC
I appreciate Jake's economy of language, even if he violated the true spirit of the Mailbag.
I became a serious Panthers fan around 2022/23, and though it's been mostly tough so far, hope springs eternal. It always hurts to see the team lose, but it hurts worse when we don't look competitive. Watching the Bills-Ravens game was like watching an entirely different sport! Why does everything look and feel so much harder for the Panthers than other teams? Thank you for your quality reporting on the team! — Emily, Greenville, SC
Well, part of the reason is that the Ravens and the Bills are two of the best teams in the league, and that game was an all-time classic. Most teams and games will pale in comparison.
That's like comparing this Mailbag to a much better and taller and more handsome Mailbag, like the one in Arizona.
Make sure the guys are good. First time seeing Bryce play, we good. Just need to keep our head up and come to play next week. And tell them I said wassup. — Amar, Jacksonville, FL
They all said wassup back, thanks, Amar.
First, Keep Pounding. My question is a bit on the silly side. Crocs has released the NFL season Crocs, and I don't see our Panthers. This is an outrage, and I'm curious if a riot is needed? It would help bring completion to all my Panthers gear. Let's have a great season. — Jovan, Boston, MA
Now this is something worth being outraged about. This aggression will not stand. To the streets!
Or, you could just buy a black pair and customize them yourself, I guess. But where's the fun in putting in the effort to create something unique?
